Starting a rogue
So, you're thinking of playing a Rogue? This page is intended to give a short overview of what to do over the first 10 levels or so, just to get you started on the right path. If you're looking for more of an overview of the class's abilities, see the main rogue page. For more advanced topics, see the Rogue Tactics. For a more general overview on starting out playing WoW, see the Newbie Guide Race Selection If you're a serious player, you'll want to consider the various Racial Traits when choosing your race. You might also consider the racial stats, but after the first 20 levels or so these become largely irrelevant, as the items you've gained will far outstrip any racial bonuses. For more information on these, see here. For PvP, a dwarf, gnome, undead,night elf or blood elf rogue is usually the best choice. Dwarven Racial Stoneform removes bleed effects, allowing you to escape from a warrior at will, which is a big problem for rogues, and allows you to escape from smarter rogues that use rupture to prevent you from vanishing. Stoneform also removes debuffs like devouring plague and hunter's serpent sting, abilities which also prevent rogues from vanishing (before Cloak of Shadows at level 66). Stoneform has a vast number of uses and is an overlooked ability. Their ability to track treasure is also useful in finding locked chests. Will of the Forsaken and Cannibalize for the Undead is essential in PvP, as you can avoid fear and charm, as well as regenerate health from fallen opponents. Gnomes will also be good because of their small size and Escape Artist, allowing them to get out of snares with ease. Night Elves have Shadowmeld, adding one level of stealth, and that is excellent in PvP, but mostly in Rogue vs Rogue fights, because the first rogue that gets hit will usually loose unless you're smart.They also have Wisp Spirit,which is very good in Battle grounds. Blood elves have an AoE silence and a frequently underrated mana drain that allows rogues to regen 30 energy. When you consider raiding, you want to look at the offensive benefits of your race. Trolls and Orcs have very good racials to boost their overall DPS. A Troll has the ability to attack faster than any race in the entire game, and Orcs can boost their attack power to unmatched levels. A good Troll can be the DPS output of an Undead in far superior gear if they optimize their use of Blade Flurry, Haste Potions, Berserking, and Slice and Dice. In the end, your race is your own choice. If you're the person that will end up wanting the best race ("best" being in the eye of the beholder), make sure you look into this classes end game expectations, what is expected of you as a rogue in a large raid, and which racials can make you shine on the Recount Report. Leveling and End Game The easiest way to progress through the early levels is to simply do any and all of the quests you can find. Not only will you breeze through the first 5 to 10 levels, but you'll get useful gear and precious money. Money is particularly important so you can purchase your Rogue Abilities. You will spend levels 1 to 5 in your starting town. Make sure you get all the Rogue Abilities you can from your trainer. Between level 5 and 6 you'll find yourself heading off to your second town and a new trainer who can teach you various things. At the second town, repeat the process - do each and every quest you can find. It's important to keep up with your abilities and your gear. Now is also an appropriate time to start training in your chosen professions. Levels 1 - 3 Rogues start with Sinister Strike, Eviscerate, and Throw. With , you can purchase Stealth. If necessary, use Throw to pull a single mob from a crowd. Levels 4 - 5 At level 4, you can learn Backstab and Pick Pocket, two skills that require the use of Stealth. Before opening combat, enter Stealth and try to Pick Pocket the target. Afterwards, open with Backstab and continue to spam Sinister Strike. (Backstab does not need to be used from stealth. If you are in a group and someone else has aggro, you can get behind and proceed to use backstab. This move can also be used with Gouge, when learned.) Levels 6 - 7 At level 6, you can upgrade Sinister Strike and learn Gouge. Use Gouge to incapacitate your opponents and generate combo points. Levels 10 - 70 -'Weapon Choice'- (Consider Specialization as well) -'Dagger'- Burst PvE - Generally Backstab dependent, Burst PvP - Not as common at later levels due to the addition of resillience, making burst crits utterly laughable. -'Sword'- Sustained PvE - Very Slice and Dice and attack power dependent due to Sword Proc, Sustained PvP - Hemorrhage or Sinister Strike, each hit hard, and depend on spec. -'Fist'- Sustained/Burst PvE - Very Crit Rate dependent, you will rely on Agility much more than a Sword Rogue in raids, Burst/Sustained PvP - Larger crits than normal regardless of position due to Fist Specialization and Malice. -'Mace'- Minimal Sustained, Minimal Burst PvE due to the current nature of Mace Specialization, Sustained PvP and Stun Proc with Mace Specialization. Maces are very common amongst Arena Rogues. Notable Early Quests '' The intention is to link into the Quests page here with a few low-level quests once they are added, with particular emphasis on including quests with nice rogue rewards, and any rogue-specific quests. No real need to include the very basic starting quests as everybody will see those easily enough -- Goldark'' The following lists are not intended to be comprehensive, but cover a selection of the best quests in the starting areas from levels 1 to 10. Dwarves/Gnomes * Quest 1 * Quest 2 * etc Humans * Brotherhood of Thieves - nice early dagger reward * Seek out SI:7 - magical dagger for level 10 rogues Night Elves * Ursal the Mauler- Nice main hand axe or mace Orcs/Trolls * The Shattered Hand - Nice dagger Undead * Quest 1 On Soloing and Grouping Soloing For the first 10 levels, the Rogue shouldn't have much trouble soloing up to two mobs at a time around your level. You won't be able to Backstab much when soloing, so the main focus will be on Sinister Strike and Eviscerate. Try to find a weapon with high end damage for hitting those big Sinister Strikes, as this will help more than a weapon with high DPS. After level 6, you might start using Gouge to stun your opponent briefly to get behind and do a backstab. This is one of the staple early strategies. If interested in solo grinding your way to level 70 stick to the Combat Tree and focus on low HP mobs that you can form a route around. This will allow the rogue to excel at what they do best, consistent damage. A good example of a mob worth grinding is the Rock Stalker.It has low health and is elite,so it gives you more experience. Grouping Grouping isn't all that different from soloing. At these levels any class can pretty much look after itself, but be ready to help out a weaker caster class if you see them under attack - always protect your healer! Remember to "assist" the Warrior or Paladin if you have one in your group, to ensure you focus your party's firepower on one mob. You can do this by selecting the tank (use the F1-F5 keys to target group members) and then pressing "F". This way, mobs will die faster. If you don't have a tank in the group, agree amongst yourselves whom to assist. Although its not all that important now, its an important habit to get used to for later levels. Roguecraft Your Rogue is your character. With talent points, you have to decide how you want to build your Rogue. Assassination, Combat, and Subtlety are the specializations that are available. Many, many rogues decide to invest their points in Subtelty at lower levels. In the beginnin, Subtlety is a build that flows well with PvP and PvE Combat. But, if you pick Combat, and get good at it in any situation, you will be a force to be reckoned with in any encounter at any time. Subtelty Rogues won't present a huge threat when they can't get behind the enemy for back stab, or are out of their cooldowns that allow them to escape, and engage again or flee. But a Combat Rogue, with combat-based cooldowns is not dependent on an escape to gain an edge on their opponent. Useful Professions The rogue can benefit directly and indirectly from many of the professions available. Primary Professions ; Herbalism & Alchemy : Herbalism and Alchemy are somewhat useful for the rogue, and are essentially two Primary Professions that go hand in hand. Herbalism allows the gathering of various herbs, and the Alchemy profession allows the creation of various potions for use. Health potions will often save your life, but there are also potions of defense, agility, regen potions and more. However, keep in mind that healing potions will drop from mobs or be pick-pocketed too so there are other ways to get them. You can even buy some potions from vendors. Additionally, herbalism can be used to acquire Swiftthistle, used in the creation of Thistle Tea. This profession choice is for the people who don't want to take up Cooking and even perhaps First Aid for fast healing potions, this isn't a bad problem, but there are many professions other than these that the rogue can benefit from. ; Mining & Blacksmithing : Somewhat useful. Mining allows you to get the resources required for blacksmithing. You can then smith yourself your own weapons - great! Sadly, as a sneaky rogue, chain and plate armour are of no use to you, but they do sell well! This is a good moneymaking profession for the rogues as they can make many good items and weapons for themselves and can sell the mail and plate to the needy warriors and paladins. ; Mining & Jewelcrafting : The many stat-boosting trinkets you can make in this profession set are useful for a Rogue, because in the lower levels Stamina and Defense are important. Rings and Necklace sells for a decent amount, too and can also help your rogue. ; Engineering : Engineering is also pretty useful - you can make yourself some dynamite and a number of other handy gadgets. Best coupled with mining, as it is heavily reliant on metals. However, most engineering items require engineering to use, so you're less likely to make lots of money from this trade. (Guns are one notable exception to this). Engineering does, however, allow for the creation of Practice Locks, which are useful for leveling up your lockpicking skill. Engineering is also a most choice for many twinkers of the lower levels, as the only head gear is the bandana and many engineering goggles, the "twinks" as we call them prefer to have an even greater edge. ; Skinning & Leatherworking : Another useful rogue profession! Skinning is required to get the resources required for leatherworking. With leatherworking you can produce leather patches for armor, to boost their armor rating, and you can also produce your own leather armor. This works well with the rogue, as all of their armor is leather-based. Most rogues take this route because they can properly gear their own rogue, although this isn't preferred for "twinking" Start your profession early! It's usually not too expensive, and you want to ensure that the gear you create with your skills is applicable to your rogue's level. Secondary Professions * Cooking * Fishing * First Aid As a Rogue you have 4 ways to heal: Time, Eating, Potions, and First Aid. Fishing is useful in that it provides you with something to cook, but fishing takes lots of time an is not recommended for those who wish to level up fast. Cooking should be trained up to at least skill 60, so you can make Thistle Tea, a drink which instantly restores your energy in the heat of battle. Cooking also allows you to make better food than may be otherwise available, although in practice you can normally find plenty of food from monsters, doing quests, or asking a friendly mage. First Aid is indispensable to a rogue, as it can really reduce your down-time between fights when soloing, and can also help reduce the strain on your healers when in a group. In addition, a common tactic is to use gouge during combat. During the opponents down time, you can use your bandages while in combat for a quick life boost. This is easier with the "gouge macro" Cooking can also be another good profession for the rogue for those "in-between" resting breaks where you can also provide sufficient food for yourself to eat. This is also more reliable and cheaper compared to buying food from vendors. And gives you a little something to do (collect meat then cook) when you're bored! Lockpicking Some good info at the official WoW forums: * Lockpicking FAQ Early on you might get some Practice Locks from an engineer to increase your lockpicking, but at low levels you won't want or need it much. The best chance to get your skill up to snuff will be around 15th level in a place called Alther's Mill in the Redridge Mountains region. Horde rogues will want to visit one of the pirate ships on the eastern coast of the Barrens, south of Ratchet. Another excellent place for levelling up Lockpicking is in Angor Fortress in Badlands as well as the gates in Scarlet Monastery Long-Term Goals Rogues are very weapon-dependent. They are cooldown-dependent. Most rogue attacks have static damage or a heavy element of static damage is applied to them (the difference between a backstab with a lvl 1 white dagger and a top-of-the-line level 70 epic one is a lot of damage. Nevertheless, it is important to ensure you're always using the best weapons available for your level (and budget!) You need every damage point you can inflict! - use Wowhead to search for weapons you might want to look out for. Keep them in good repair, as the rogue's fast attacks tend to wear down their weapons faster than most other classes. Decide where you want to go with your Rogue Talents, as these can make a big difference to the way you'll play your rogue past level 10. They may also have a big influence on what weapon types you want to stick with. Links * Rogue Gear Guide Rogue,Starting Rogue